We Welcome Eden!

November came and with it the anticipation of the arrival of our baby--boy or girl?  Every day I thought  This Is (Surely) The Big Day, so I would walk around narrating my own birth story, "I woke up and ate two eggs, then feeling a little prodromal labor, decided to take a walk and drink some Pregnancy Tea..."

Shiloh was anticipating the birth story as well, "I woke up and feeling a little squirrely, decided to refold all the baby blankets and by refold I mean stuff in a drawer where my mom will have to hunt for them for 45 minutes..."

Canaan was also excited about the arrival, "I woke up and took about 18 laps around the house in Super Sonic Speed, then re-enacted MegaMind with every Barbie and Pony I have, then hugged my mom's belly, then ate 2 pounds of cereal, then it was only 7:18am...."

So we all kept busy with Life.  The Thanksgiving Play at school.

Hanging out with friends.

  

Celebrating Thanksgiving with the family, giving the elusive response to all inquiries about the baby, "Yeah!  I didn't think I'd be here either...Ha. Ha. Ha." 

Having my sweet sister on call for Baby Duty.  Then having her leave after No Baby Came After All.

Picking out the Christmas Tree, riding on an especially bumpy tractor hoping that this will DEFINITELY break my water and wouldn't that be great?

Chasing and bending and stretching and lifting children, meanwhile wondering if the baby was staging a Shut-In knowing that life outside the womb would be considerably louder, faster, colder, hotter, crazier, and simply out-of-control at times??

If we didn't have a baby any time soon, at least we'd have a tree.

And a picture with Faux Santa.

"Just take your mind off it..." advised everyone. So we decorated the tree...

And the gingerbread house and the cookies and all my Pinterest projects and took refuge in the fact that AT LEAST I wouldn't be pregnant for the Super Bowl.

And finally, after two nights of "This has GOT to be it," ten hours of active labor, and much anticipation, on December 3 at 9:20 in the morning, Eden Maureen Goodwin made her grand entrance into the world!!  All 7.9 lbs and 21 in. of her! Praise. The. Lord. Her mother announced.

Eden knew that coming into a family of two "spirited" little girls would be a tough act to follow, so she decided her entrance would be a grand one.

So she confounded everyone but her father and sisters by coming out as a girl. The majority of us (including the Chinese Calendar) thought she was a boy. "SURPRISE!" Sweet and Beautiful Eden announced.

And she instantly became her oldest sister's favorite, daily replacing Canaan's previous favorites: ice cream, Barbies, fake babies, and even (at times) her other sister Shiloh.  

Shiloh was equally thrilled and apathetic to the arrival of another sister/minion for her to include in her daily sabotages.

Eden became her parents "easiest baby", a blessing when we have two wild girls who insist on Always Using Your Outside Voice. 

A dicey situation, since she is so quiet that there may be the slight possibility we forget her at home some day.

Thankfully we have grandparents who won't even laugh at that joke. Even though my dad legitimately forgot my brother at Target one day.

And so Eden became a part of our Girl Posse, after having been initiated in with a barrage of kissing and hugging and too-tight-squeezing and splashing in her eyeball while in the bath. She made it.

Just in time to have a picture with Santa--granted it was the Hotter and considerably younger Santa, but still the very much real Santa.

Eden became Canaan's Class Mascot, even being the topic of many a circle time.

Including, "Want to know how my mom feeds the baby? It's super gross and it has to do with her b--bs," complete with a visual aid whereas Canaan points to the particular milk-producing body parts of her teacher, while all the kids adamantly agreed, "That is super gross." 

And life continued for the Goodwin's--a trip to Madison, GA to see the cousins get married.

A ride on a tractor.

Lots of sleeping for the littlest Goodwin.

And plenty of snuggling.

Eden soon learned an important lesson in our house:  God made girls special and we can do ANYTHING!  Like baking with an infant in the sling.

And exhibiting self-control by NOT opening up the presents under the tree until Christmas.  Rearrange them six times a day?  Yes.  Take off the bows? Of course not.

Eden joined the annual Goodwin tradition of singing "Away in a Manger" in front of the tree.  Such sweet voices we'll never forget!

And leaving cookies for Santa, emotions roiling while the girls are both excited for presents, but nervous about how/when Santa will actually get into the basement where we live.

Finally, the day arrives!  Eden is overwhelmed with joy by all the presents in her stocking.

Dad's biceps are overwhelmed with fatigue by holding the tire horse for everyone to get equally long and wild rides on it.

Life has changed, while I become accustomed to the fact that we may never have a little boy in our house,

I couldn't have imagined a better life than this one-- our three girls whose beautiful hearts perfectly match their beautiful faces.

I may never have a strapping football player in our house, but I will certainly have three girls who can do ANYTHING.

Be a gymnast, cheer, play soccer, swim, run, jump, yell, dance, go to prom

get manis/pedis, have girls weekends at the beach, go wedding dress shopping, 

ask their mom to be in the delivery room as they have their own babies, call me often, laugh a lot, go out to coffee... 

Three girls to share a wonderful life with.

I pick this family.

A great husband who has the life long job of being The Hero for four women,

who sympathetically listens without rolling his eyes as we sort out our estrogen issues,

who doesn't mind unreasonable crying and waits patiently for the 8th costume change of the day,

who is crazy about his newest baby girl, never once wishing she was anyone different than his darling Eden.

Yes, life with three girls will be an adventure.

We're just glad Eden came aboard.